American Gods Recap: A Murder of Gods

America Gods Recap: A Murder of Gods

We begin the episode with another one of Mr. Ibis’ ‘Somewhere in America’ scenes. This time, it’s Mexicans crossing a river to get to the US. We see them praying before attempting the swim across, and the last man to cross starts to drown. Next, we see Jesus walking over the water to save the man. As everyone makes it to shore, he’s lit from behind by the headlights of pickup trucks. A group of rednecks (complete with ironic Lord’s Prayer lines etched into their rifles) mows them all down in a hail of bullets, including Jesus, who we see lying on the ground with bullet holes in both hands.

“If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.”

Back with Shadow and Wednesday, they’re walking down the road, and Shadow is having a hard time coming to grips with what’s going on. He admits to Wednesday that he saw his dead wife, and Wednesday tells him to leave her behind. They get to the motel, and they leave.

They leave just as she comes back to the motel. Wednesday sees her, but drives faster.

Laura finds out the police have towed her car, just as Mad Sweeney comes meandering into the motel. He tells them about the police being dead, and she decides he’s going to drive her after Shadow. He decides he’s sticking with her until he gets his coin. He also tells her he might know a guy who can resurrect her so she won’t need the coin.

“I’ll tell ya…once we’re in Kentucky.”

They go to steal a car…and it’s the salesman’s taxi from the tale of the djinn/ifrit. He decides he’ll take them where they want to go if Sweeney leads him to the djinn.

Back with Shadow and Wednesday, they end up having to stop the car because Shadow’s bleeding profusely, and there’s something in the wound–a piece of the creepy tree from the police station. Wednesday charms the tree out and closes Shadow’s wound.

In the taxi, Salim the salesman-now-taxi-driver talks about how he got the taxi. Him and Laura talk about leaving their old lives behind. He realizes Laura is dead.

“Welcome to Vulcan, Virginia.”

Next, we see an idyllic factory town. Things are buzzing along, everyone fine…until what looks like the boss falls into a vat of firey molten metal. Then we see the metal being made into bullets. Someone died, and the production lines just keeps on going.

We find out that the man who owns this production line is the god Vulcan. He’s diversified from volcanos to guns, and made his own town. Every now and again, someone dies on the production line, and because of the town’s dedication it’s operating as a sacrifice to Vulcan.

Wednesday is trying to recruit him to his cause. At first, it looks like Vulcan is amenable, but later it becomes apparent that he’s long since defected to the other side.

“We’re at war already, and we’re losing.”

It’s more than evident that Shadow doesn’t like Vulcan (and with good reason). The feeling is mutual. They engage in some unpleasantries, and Vulcan explains his little town and the obsession with guns. He’s turned that obsession into worship.

Vulcan says he stands with Wednesday, and Wednesday asks him to make him a sword–Vulcan was a smith. Even so, Wednesday seems to know what’s going on. Shadow wants to know why Wednesday is letting Vulcan’s insulting behavior pass, and Wednesday tells him he’s coming up with a retort.

“They can’t see her.”

Wednesday tells Shadow to close his eyes, and Shadow sees Laura looking into the window at her parent’s house. This is where the trio in the taxi have stopped. After Laura has seen her family through the window, they leave.

Vulcan has made Wednesday his sword, and a moment passes between them where Vulcan acknowledges that he’s on the modern gods’ side and he’s already told them that Wednesday is there at the little town. Wednesday shoves Vulcan into a vat of molten steel, and the factory line keeps chugging on. He says the narrative will now be that Vulcan pledged allegiance to Wednesday and made him the blade, and the modern gods killed him for it. After pushing him in, Wednesday pees into the vat.

JL Jamieson is a strange book nerd who writes technical documents by day, and book news, reviews, and other assorted opinions for you by night. She is working on her own fiction, and spends time making jewelry to sell at local conventions, as well as stalking the social media accounts of all your favorite writers.

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